Now, I’m so old that I was born – if you can imagine this, younger readers – in the 1980s. As such, I’ve been a Pokemon fan for about a quarter of a century. I grew up with the series.
I was molded by it, as a certain Batman villain would say. As such, I’ve seen every strange turn the series has taken, from Missingno to thinking that Zacian’s ludicrous stats and pre-nerf Intrepid Sword Ability were a good idea.
I’ve seen every single gimmick the games have had to offer. Z-Moves, Terastallization, all of these wild shenanigans that have fundamentally changed the way a Pokemon match plays out, for better and, perhaps just as frequently, for worse.
In competitive circles, players have sometimes grumbled about certain changes, before swiftly realizing that if you can’t beat them, you have to join them. We then get into the nitty gritty of optimizing whatever the new gimmick is to ensure a better chance of victory in a match.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Z-Moves, as far as these new battle mechanics go. They were relatively unobtrusive, being granted to just one Pokemon on a team to be used once, and costing an item slot in the process.
This isn’t to say that they weren’t impactful, of course. Eevee’s exclusive Z-Move, Extreme Evoboost, granted it a huge boost to all its stats (bar HP) at once, and Baton Pass tricks to pass those boosts onto another team member were a huge and frightening strategy at one point.
My favorite memory from that era of Pokemon, in fact, was the rise of Golduck, the very last Pokemon that anyone would ever expect to be a competitive force. There was a time that, as the only Swift Swim Pokemon available, it was a rain team powerhouse with Waterium Z.
Nonetheless, Mega Evolution, as they say, hits differently. Here were some ludicrous Pokemon that were utterly dominant in metas gone by, such as Mega Kangaskhan (double-hitting Power-Up Punch was absolutely monstrous) and Mega Charizard Y, with its humongous Special Attack and Drought Ability for instant sun.
It seemed for some time that Mega Evolution was going to be left behind, when we were instead treated to Dynamax/Gigantamax in Generation 8 and Terastallization for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. For me, though, there was really no topping Mega Evolution as a concept, which did a fantastic job of elevating some largely irrelevant Pokemon and simply making others absurdly powerful just because.
Maybe you’re a competitive player who appreciates the intricacies that a new stat spread and Ability brings to the table. Perhaps you’re a main story battler who just thinks it’s neat that Mega Evolution gives a Pokemon a cool new look and makes it do more damage. Either way, the mechanic offers something consequential for all fans.
Classic Mega Evolutions In The Making
There was also a little more to it than that, as the requirement to hold the corresponding Mega Stone (except in the case of Mega Rayquaza) meant that there was still a trade-off in that sense.
Depending on the chosen Pokemon, there was potential to either capitalize on the creature’s iconic nature for some good old-fashioned fan service (Charizard and Mewtwo both getting two different Mega Evolved forms), or to raise the profile of one that had been languishing in the lowest tiers of competitive play.
You might have forgotten that the likes of Hawlucha or Victreebel were even on the roster at all, but they’ve got fresh new Mega Evolutions coming to Pokemon Legends: Z-A and I think that’s wonderful.
I was already a Hawlucha enthusiast for its Flying/Fighting typing and unique Flying Press move (“I’m something of a man of culture myself”), but the little luchador made headlines like never before when its new Mega forme was revealed.
And then, of course, there are the much-ballyhooed Mega Evolutions of Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja. Fans have been hoping to see these for generations of games, artists have been creating their own impressions of how they’d look, and now here the trio is.
Of the three, I think Delphox hit the mark the best in terms of design, but everyone’s going to have their own opinions on that. That’s the thing about Mega Evolution: It gets people talking, gets them excited. It’s not just a cooler look, but potentially a fundamental change in a Pokemon it’s been bestowed upon.
Naturally, Legends Z-A has a very different battle system to the mainline series, and the impact these new Mega Evolutions have will be affected by that. Stat boosts won’t work in the conventional way here, and nor will the one per team per battle rules apply.
As always, too, not every new design is or can be a winner. Mega Dragonite, with its gigantic wing-ears, is one such example in my book. Nonetheless, it’s helped get players engaged in the conversation surrounding Z-A, and if you’ve avoided the leaks, there are still many surprising Mega Evolutions to discover in the game.
That’s enough in and of itself to get me excited to jump into the game and start exploring, which speaks volumes about the impact Mega Evolution has had across the fanbase. On the subject of the impact, it’ll also be intriguing to see how closely Mega Evolution is tied into the story and the implications of it all.
This is the game that has to start proving that the broader series can still deliver on Nintendo’s new hardware, so there’s a lot of pressure there. However, there’s also the great bulbous, poisonous horror show that is Mega Victreebel, and let’s not forget that.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
